“This one is still lying! Here are my initials!”

“A could be my initial too!”

That was true. The children watching the situation whispered. Both Alecto and Angarad start with A.

Neris inwardly laughed coldly. That’s exactly why she chose Alecto.

If it had been M or L or I, Angarad would have quickly apologized saying ‘I mistook it because they look similar’. But if there was room to insist, Angarad would insist as much as possible. Once branded, the stigma would never disappear.

Just like it had for Neris.

But that very insistence implies intentionality. Alecto’s face turned red with anger.

“The embroidered stitching is my maid’s. If you want, let’s have your Martha and our Lina do it. Whoever’s maid embroiders an A exactly like this one is the owner of the ribbon. Understood? If you lose, I’ll tell my father! Your father is a mere baron!”

A conflict between Count Islani and Baron Nine would hardly be worth calling a fight. Count Islani may not be that impressive among the nobles of count rank, but he still has enough power to hold that title.

Angarad sat down on the spot and wailed. The children who saw this gave Angarad cold looks. Diane tilted her head.

“Why wear someone else’s ribbon?”

“Well, normally you don’t think the one on someone else’s head is yours just because you lost your ribbon, right? Maybe she thought she wouldn’t get caught.”

Diane was convinced by Neris’s explanation.

“Liz is right. Then how did Alecto know the ribbon Angarad was wearing was hers?”

“I wonder?”

Neris shrugged nonchalantly while asking back. Of course, she knew the whole story.

It was two days ago. Alecto’s maid, who had lost her mistress’s ribbon in the dormitory’s student laundry room, searched the area thoroughly.

By chance, a very similar ribbon was discarded nearby. It was a ribbon with a lavender-scented stain.

Not all students used the student laundry room. Since laundry was hard work, most people with few or no attendants entrusted the job to the consignment laundry in town. Neris had recently dropped by the consignment laundry pretending to leave her laundry.

And she spoke to the launderer there.

“I’m sorry, but I think I lost my ribbon after coming in here. It’s my only luxury item and I’m worried it might have gotten mixed up with someone else’s.”

The launderer believed Neris’s talk of her “only” luxury item, looking at her attire. And he showed her a few ribbons that had just come into the laundry. Among them was Angarad’s ribbon with the stain not yet fully removed.

Taking advantage of the employee’s distraction, Neris pilfered her target and politely said, “It doesn’t seem to be among these, I might have dropped it somewhere else” before leaving the laundry. Then she waited for the day Alecto’s maid did laundry.

Finally, while Alecto’s maid was away from the dormitory laundry room, she stole Alecto’s ribbon from among the laundry and discarded Angarad’s ribbon right nearby.

The consignment laundry was surprised that “one ribbon was missing” and searched inside the laundry room, only to “coincidentally” find a cream-colored ribbon fallen beside the laundry tub yesterday evening when Neris came to pick up her laundry.

The ribbon had been cleanly washed and the launderer quickly sent it to Angarad.

It happened to be right before the party. Angarad’s maid, who was busy decorating the banquet hall and cooking alone, had no time to notice something like initials embroidered with inconspicuous colored thread.

Even if she had seen it, she would have thought that since the consignment laundry had sent someone else’s by mistake, they could exchange it again after the party was over.

It could have ended up as a failed trap if Angarad hadn’t worn cream-colored clothes today, but Neris wasn’t worried about that.

Because Angarad really spent a lot of money today. At a party where she spent all the money her family gave her to fit in with the children, what else would she do but wear the accessories her father bought her from the imperial capital?

But she probably didn’t expect the party to end like this. Neris watched Angarad, who sat down crying, without missing a single movement.

If Diane’s servant hadn’t spilled the lavender drink at the last party, she would have had to find another way to soil Angarad’s ribbon, which was fortunate.

Because just putting a spider in the punch would have been too weak.

“Liz, didn’t you drink the peach punch earlier? That’s too bad.”

Diane suddenly covered her mouth as if she just remembered. Neris calmly nodded her head as she received that kind gaze.

“It can’t be helped.”

“You’re too nice.”

Diane clicked her tongue and Angarad shouted at Alecto in a trembling voice.

“I, I…! I didn’t steal it! The laundry gave me this! I thought it was mine……”

“You’re lying! Then why did you throw away your ribbon? Why was my ribbon at the laundry! I’m different from you, Lina takes care of all my laundry, you know? You stole mine because your ribbon was ruined, right? You didn’t want to get scolded by your father? How could you steal someone else’s just for that?”

To the children, those words seemed to make sense.

In an instant, the banquet hall was filled with whispering voices and now no one was laughing and playing. Finally, when Angarad left crying, the children poured out of the banquet hall.

Neris laughed inwardly. Alecto was a smart child. She never thought the day would come when that intelligence would be used in a way that helped her side.

They say there’s nothing useless in the world.

Angarad was not at the usual gathering of lower nobles held at the beginning of next month. There were only two hosts.

The children, who had seen enough of Angarad attending classes with her head down, unable to talk to anyone for a while, did not raise any questions.

“Even for the smallest theft, you have to stay after school for 2 weeks as punishment, and have an interview with Mrs. Hoffman. If you don’t reflect then, they contact your home.”

A fourteen-year-old party attendee whispered to a freshman attendee she was acquainted with. The freshman attendee couldn’t hide her expression of serves-her-right.

“She was always a bit strange.”

“Yes, but there are occasionally kids like that so you should be careful too. You shouldn’t leave valuables lying around like at home. If they claim it was done solely by the maid like this time, it’s hard to give additional punishment. Understood?”

Martha, Angarad’s maid, ended up taking responsibility for the ribbon incident and was expelled from school.

It was obvious how Martha, born and raised in Baron Nine’s domain, would be treated by the master and mistress when she returned home, but to Angarad it must have seemed like the best course of action.

But how many people would believe that?

Neris inwardly gave a bitter smile at the atmosphere around her.

‘Strange’, huh. There probably wasn’t anyone among those present who had heard that word more than Neris. A child who is ‘strange’ in the social sense is not born that way from the beginning.

‘They’re made. As much as they’re isolated from other kids.’

Neris, who was cheerful and bright when young, gradually darkened as she was ostracized at the academy. But being dark itself was a secondary issue.

People she met in high society, even if they weren’t on Megara’s side, showed obvious discomfort when conversing with Neris.

‘General’ topics, ‘general’ responses, ‘general’ expressions of emotion, there was nothing among them that wasn’t learned from peer relationships when young. Those were the things Neris struggled most to learn.

The children’s expression “a bit strange child” ultimately meant behaving differently from peers. And a child evaluated as different from peers is repeatedly isolated from peers.

As Neris had been, as Angarad would be from now on.

Because children recognize the weak.

“Hey, Neris.”

Hardy, one of the hosts of this party who was talking with Neris, asked with sparkling eyes.

“You take classes with upperclassmen, right? Does that mean you’re invited to upperclassmen’s parties too?”

Neris shook her head and answered.

“Not really. Upperclassmen already have set groups they hang out with.”

“That’s a shame. I think you’d do well even at upperclassmen’s parties.”

“Thank you for saying so. But I experienced formal parties for the first time after coming to the academy? All the academy’s parties are wonderful and exciting to me. I’m grateful for the experience of being invited here today too, Hardy.”

Hardy looked proud. The other children at the same table were the same.

As it was a party of lower nobles, the highest-ranking parents of the children present were at most viscounts, and there were countless children of knights. However, there were few from as difficult circumstances as Neris. Usually, children of knights don’t attend school if they don’t have money.

A sense of leisurely superiority and the generosity derived from it dominated the students. Another child boasted maturely:

“Neris has pretty purple eyes, right? She must be a descendant of an excellent family. With good blood and smarts, she’ll surely be invited to many dignified gatherings in the future.”

That was true. Though now it was just a painful memory of betrayal. Neris barely hid her bitter smile with a modest expression.

‘You’ve never invited me to those parties even once.’

“Everyone got invitations, right? See you on Friday!”

Except for Neris, the entire class was invited to gatherings called class parties at least once every two weeks. Even after graduation, it was common for groups formed among children who entered the academy together to be maintained, and she similarly didn’t receive invitations to such gatherings.

There was one time, when everyone was still in first year, when Neris received an invitation from Angarad first. Something felt off, but Neris was so moved by the mere fact that she had received an invitation like the other children that she accepted it.

And when she went to the place written on the invitation wearing the best clothes she had.

There was no one there. No matter how many times she checked, it was the same. It turned out that place was actually a classroom where 7th years had classes.

The place written on the other children’s invitations was different. Wondering if she had mistaken the location, Neris wandered around until a kind upperclassman told her that the first years’ party was being held in the dormitory where Megara lived.

Unable to give up, Neris went all the way to the front of Megara’s dormitory and saw her classmates laughing brightly and having fun.

Fine clothes, fine food. Neris knew that none of it had been prepared for her.

As she was turning back, blaming only herself, she heard Angarad and her friends laughing and chattering.

“What about her? Did she really go?”

“She must have. She’s stupid, you know.”

“Ah, that’s really funny. I should have seen it.”

“Did you see her face when she got the invitation? Who would like her coming? Angarad is really funny, I tell you!”

“I hate it when she comes too. Honestly, her mom I saw when I was young was weird too. I feel sorry for Lord Wilmothe……”

She wanted to believe it was about someone else. But as soon as she heard the name ‘Lord Wilmothe’, Neris realized.

Angarad, when showing off among her friends, had no interest in any truth. The important thing was to bring up the trivial topic of Neris. To shout to the other children at this school who were of higher status or wealthier than her, ‘I’m the same as you. Compared to her!’

Now Neris had no interest in such trivial gatherings. But that didn’t mean it was okay.

Therefore, there was no need to feel guilty about Angarad now.